CHAPTER 8. The New Kingdom. Contents. 8.1 The New Kingdom: Overview

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1 ITTC08 1/25/07 5:34 PM Page 207 CHAPTER 8 The New Kingdom Contents 8.1 The New Kingdom: Overview The Early New Kingdom 8.2 Early New Kingdom Architecture: Ahmose s Abydos Pyramid Complex, and the Theban Mortuary Temples of Hatshepsut and Thutmose III 8.3 Amenhotep III s Malkata Palace 8.4 Tell el-amarna and the Amarna Period 8.5 The Amarna Aftermath and Tutankhamen s Tomb New Kingdom Temples 8.6 Restoration of the Traditional Gods: Sety I s Abydos Temple 8.7 The Temples of Karnak and Luxor in the New Kingdom 8.8 Ramessid Mortuary Temples Royal and Elite Tombs 8.9 Royal Tombs in the Valley of the Kings and Valley of the Queens 8.10 Elite Tombs at Thebes and Saqqara State Towns and Settlements 8.11 The Workmen s Village and Tombs at Deir el-medina 8.12 Nubian Temple Towns

2 ITTC08 1/25/07 2:54 PM Page 208 Introduction The defeat of the Hyksos and the Kerma kingdom in the early New Kingdom led to greatly expanded Egyptian control of foreign regions to the northeast and farther south through warfare. The 18 th and 19 th Dynasties were the age of Egypt s empire, and in Nubia temple towns were founded as far upstream as the Fourth Cataract. It was a cosmopolitan age with much trade and exchange between the major states in the Near East and Aegean, and opulence is apparent, especially in royal and elite burials in western Thebes. The pyramid as a royal tomb disappeared by the New Kingdom, however, and kings were buried in hidden rock-cut tombs in the Valley of the Kings. Beginning in the 18 th -Dynasty cult temples were built mainly in stone (and added onto). A major beneficiary of Egyptian conquests was the Temple of Amen-Ra at Karnak. Huge royal mortuary temples were also built across the river in western Thebes. The well preserved town at Deir el-medina, for workers in the royal tombs and their families, has provided important settlement data, as has Akhenaten s briefly occupied capital at Tell el-amarna. Akhenaten s focus on the cult of the god Aten produced the so-called Amarna revolution, but his wide-ranging reforms scarcely outlived his reign. His successor, Tutankhamen, abandoned Amarna and was buried in Thebes, in a small but lavishly furnished tomb. Although the great pharaoh Rameses II fought the Hittites, the other superpower of the time, at Qadesh in Syria, and later concluded a peace treaty with them, in the 20 th Dynasty Egypt lost its empire in southwest Asia. The 20 th -Dynasty kings, all but one of whom were named Rameses, continued to be buried in the Valley of the Kings, but at the end of this dynasty most of the Theban royal tombs were robbed. The New Kingdom was succeeded by a dynasty of kings of uncertain ancestry ruling at Tanis in the northeastern Delta, and a kind of theocratic state at Thebes.

3 ITTC08 1/25/07 2:54 PM Page 209 The New Kingdom The New Kingdom: Overview Although warfare with the Hyksos began no later than Kamose, the last king of the Theban 17 th Dynasty, it was Ahmose, the founder of Manetho s 18 th Dynasty, who defeated the Hyksos in northern Egypt and followed them into southern Palestine, where he laid siege to their fortress of Sharuhen. Ahmose also campaigned in Nubia against the Kerma state, as did his successor Amenhotep I. At the former Hyksos capital of Avaris, Ahmose built a palace where fragments of Minoan-style frescoes have been excavated (but probably dating later, to the reign of Thutmose III; see 7.11). At South Abydos in the vicinity of the huge complex of Senusret III (12 th Dynasty), Ahmose erected several monuments, including a pyramid and temple where he was associated with the god Osiris, and a smaller shrine for his grandmother Tetisheri. The early 18 th Dynasty was a time of consolidation of power and the reestablishment of Egyptian kingship. The seat of government was moved to the north at Memphis, but little urban architecture has survived from Memphis or other New Kingdom cities (with the exception of Tell el-amarna in Middle Egypt). Although temples (and their MEDITERRANEAN SEA Tanis Avaris Sile Piramesse Qantir LOWER EGYPT Giza Saqqara Memphis Kom Medinet Ghurab SINAI Tell el-amarna Nile RED SEA km miles Abydos UPPER EGYPT Karnak Map 8.1 Major New Kingdom sites in Egypt

4 ITTC08 1/25/07 2:54 PM Page The New Kingdom towns) were built throughout Egypt, no major New Kingdom temple north of Abydos has been preserved, with parts of these temples reused in later structures. This also must have occurred in southern Egypt, where a number of temples were probably destroyed to make way for bigger Greco-Roman ones (see 10.5). The major surviving temples from the New Kingdom are located at Karnak and Luxor, the cults of which were central to the ideology of kingship. At Karnak Amenhotep I renewed a program of royal construction in what would become the largest cult center in Egypt for the next 1,500+ years. Although the location of his tomb is uncertain, Amenhotep may have been the first king of the New Kingdom to build a separate mortuary temple a practice that most kings of the period would follow. Reliefs from this temple have been found near Dra Abu el-naga in western Thebes. Thutmose I, of unknown parentage, succeeded Amenhotep I and was the father of (the future ruler) Hatshepsut. With his military activity in Nubia the Kerma state was finally ended, and Thutmose I then took his army northward to Syria-Palestine. New to the Egyptian army in the New Kingdom were the horse and chariot, introduced into Egypt under the Hyksos. Although Nubia would remain in Egyptian control through the New Kingdom, control of the petty states in Syria-Palestine and confrontation with the larger states to the north and west would prove more problematic. As a result, a trained full-time army was maintained, with a professional management that was capable of organizing and supplying major campaigns abroad, where garrisons also had to be maintained. There were also army reservists who could be mobilized when needed, and after their service veterans were often given farms in Egypt or positions on royal estates. These and other rewards helped to promote loyalty to the king, as did the ideology of the king as war leader. The heir to the throne was often the commander-in-chief of the army in the king s name, but to secure the line of succession other royal sons were often excluded from positions of power in the army or government. Thutmose I is the first king of the New Kingdom with a known tomb in the Valley of the Kings. Construction of pyramids for the royal tomb had ended, and for increased security the locations of the New Kingdom royal tombs were intentionally hidden. Thutmose I also built a mortuary temple in western Thebes, known only from mention in texts. During the New Kingdom the Perfect Festival of the Wadi was held yearly, when the royal mortuary temples were visited by priests carrying the shrouded portable statue of Amen from his sanctuary at Karnak on a model ship. Through homage to the ancestral line of kings, integrated with the cult of Amen, the festival reinforced the central role of Egyptian kingship. It also provided the occasion to honor the non-royal dead buried in western Thebes by participants who made offerings and banquets for their dead ancestors, ideologically linking the god s cult, kingship, and state officials in life and in death. Royal women became increasingly important in the 18 th Dynasty, as did the office of God s Wife of Amen, which Hatshepsut held. Following the probably brief reign of Thutmose II, Hatshepsut, who was his half-sister and wife, became regent for her stepson and nephew Thutmose III (the son of a secondary wife of Thutmose II).

5 ITTC08 1/25/07 2:54 PM Page 211 The New Kingdom 211 HITTITES N MITANNI ARZAWA ASSYRIA ALASHIYA (CYPRUS) Orontes R. Tunip Qadesh MEDITERRANEAN SEA Megiddo BABYLONIA Sharuhen? km miles Map 8.2 Kingdoms and city-states in southwest Asia during the Late Bronze Age (New Kingdom) Hatshepsut, however, took on the trappings of king and ruler. Her reign was not one of major military campaigns which reached new heights when Thutmose III became sole ruler and she built many monuments in Egypt and Nubia. While most of her constructions at Karnak were obliterated by later kings, Hatshepsut s well known temple at Deir el-bahri, where a sea-faring expedition to Punt was recorded, is the first well preserved royal mortuary temple of the New Kingdom. Thutmose III s 17 military campaigns in Syria-Palestine included a long siege of the fortified town of Megiddo. His lists of conquered peoples (of the north and south) are on Karnak s Sixth Pylon, with a schematized scene of the king smiting these enemies on the Seventh Pylon. Texts known as the Annals of Thutmose III describing his campaigns were carved on walls surrounding the bark shrine at Karnak. As a result of his conquests, Egypt controlled Palestine and parts of southern Syria, as well as major trade routes in the eastern Mediterranean. Egypt s chief rivals were the kingdom of Mitanni in northwest Syria, and the city-states of Qadesh and Tunip, on the middle and lower Orontes River, respectively. The coalition centered on Qadesh was defeated in year 42 of Thutmose s reign. Children of subjugated foreign chiefs and princes were sent to Egypt to be educated, which helped maintain control of these regions, as did Thutmose s marriages to Asiatic royal women.

6 ITTC08 1/25/07 2:54 PM Page The New Kingdom As a result of ideological reciprocity between the king and the god Amen, who was believed to confer Egyptian military success abroad, the Temple of Karnak greatly benefited from foreign tribute, trade, and war booty. Thutmose III s Festival Hall is the largest of several monuments that he erected there. In western Thebes, he built a temple to Amen at Medinet Habu (begun under Hatshepsut) and a small temple at Deir el-bahri above those of Mentuhotep II and Hatshepsut. Thutmose III s mortuary temple is located at Sheik Abd el-qurna and his large tomb is in the Valley of the Kings. Monuments were also built at a number of other temples in Egypt during his reign, and in Nubia as far upstream as Gebel Barkal below the Fourth Cataract (with the actual frontier farther upstream at Kurgus, near the Fifth Cataract). Military campaigns in southwest Asia continued under the next king, Amenhotep II, but the campaigns of his successor, Thutmose IV, were brief. Both kings actively constructed monuments throughout Egypt, including Amenhotep s temple and stela at the Giza Sphinx, and Thutmose s Dream Stela between the paws of the Sphinx (see 6.5). Foreign conquests required not only military control but also civil organization, under the offices of Governors of Northern Lands, and the Governor of Southern Lands / King s Son of Kush. In Egypt the government was organized under the Northern Vizier and the Southern Vizier. Offices of the (two) Overseer of the Treasury, Overseer of the Granaries of Upper and Lower Egypt, and Overseer of Cattle were involved with the economic life of the state and were responsible for collecting and storing taxes, paid in grain, cattle, and other products, and corvée labor. There were mayors at Memphis and Thebes, the two major centers of the kingdom, and also mayors at nome centers and some larger towns. Mainly judicial in function for both civil and criminal cases, kenbet councils existed throughout the country, with two great councils in Memphis and Thebes. The Medjay, not the army, operated as local police in Egypt. At the royal court a chancellor and chamberlain directed operations, and a chief steward oversaw the royal estates/lands. Although the king is depicted in temple reliefs as the sole person before the gods, there were two major religious offices: the high priest of Amen and the high priest of other gods. With the long reign of Amenhotep III an unprecedented era of wealth and prosperity is evident at least for the elite who had richly decorated tombs located in western Thebes and the Memphis region. One military campaign took place in desert regions to the east of Nubia, but relations with Near Eastern polities were through diplomacy (including a treaty with Mitanni), royal marriages to foreign princesses, and a kind of elaborate gift exchange. In control of vast resources, Amenhotep III constructed monuments throughout Egypt and Nubia as far south as Gebel Barkal. His temple at Soleb, above the Third Cataract, is one of the finest in Nubia. To the south at Sedeinga, a smaller temple was dedicated to Amenhotep s chief wife Tiy. Amenhotep III s major surviving works in Egypt are concentrated at Thebes. On the east bank at Luxor he dismantled an earlier 18 th -Dynasty temple and constructed a large temple in sandstone (to which Rameses II later added a peristyle court and pylon). At Karnak Amenhotep built the temple of Mut to the south of the Amen temple, and another

7 ITTC08 1/25/07 2:54 PM Page 213 The New Kingdom 213 Figure 8.1 The Colossi of Memnon temple to the north that was later dedicated to the god Montu. The main temple was enlarged, creating a new entrance, the Third Pylon, from which the procession of the Opet Festival began. This was a yearly festival in which the barks of Amen and the king, along with the barks of Mut and Khonsu, were taken from Karnak to Luxor. Taking place during the flood season, this festival was associated with the Nile s fertility. The festival, which reaffirmed the ruler s earthly role as king and his cosmic role as son of Amen-Ra, is depicted in reliefs showing dancers and musicians in much merry-making. In western Thebes Amenhotep III built a large palace complex at Malkata, next to which an enormous harbor was excavated. Except for the two huge seated statues of the king, known as the Colossi of Memnon, little remains standing of his mortuary temple which originally contained hundreds of statues (see Figure 8.1). His tomb was built in the western part of the Valley of the Kings. The importance of Amenhotep s chief wife Tiy is seen on a number of his monuments, and she continued to be a significant force in the early reign of her son Amenhotep IV. In his early years as king, Amenhotep IV erected four shrines to an obscure solar deity, Aten, at East Karnak, the cult center of Amen-Ra. Subsequently, the king changed his name to Akhenaten, which means Beneficial for Aten, and moved his capital to a site in Middle Egypt, now known as Tell el-amarna. Akhetaten ( horizon of Aten ) became the cult center for this deity, with Akhenaten s sole focus on the worship of Aten, whose son was the king. The well preserved city contained large temples to Aten, as well as palaces, residences of elite and artisans, a workmen s village and tombs carved in the eastern cliffs. During the brief time that Akhetaten was occupied, major changes also occurred in temple architecture, art styles and subject matter, language use (Late Egyptian; see 2.2), and the mortuary cult probably the greatest indication of Akhenaten s theological revolution.

8 ITTC08 1/25/07 2:54 PM Page The New Kingdom During the Amarna Period the cults of other deities were ignored, which meant that they were cut off from royal/state support, and this had serious economic repercussions throughout Egypt, especially at Thebes. Turning against the Amen cult, Akhenaten later ordered that the name of the deity be hacked off of monuments. But with Akhenaten s death, his religious revolution ended. Most historical reconstructions place at least one ruler between Akhenaten and Tutankhamen, whose name was changed (from Tutankhaten) when the Amarna Period ended. One of Akhenaten s daughters by his chief wife Nefertiti, who also featured prominently in the Aten cult, married the child king Tutankhaten, probably Akhenaten s son by another wife. Early in his reign, this king returned to Memphis, and the powerful cult of Amen- Ra once again became the major focus of state religion. Akhetaten was abandoned by the court, and Akhenaten s monuments were later dismantled or defaced by royal agents. Tutankhamen died at about age 18, and was buried in a small but lavishly furnished tomb in the Valley of the Kings. Ay, possibly a brother of Akhenaten s mother, Queen Tiy, briefly became king, and the 18 th Dynasty ended with the reign of Horemheb, a general who had also been regent for Tutankhamen. Rameses I, the first king of the 19 th Dynasty, was Horemheb s vizier and a military commander, but was not of royal birth. He ruled for a little more than a year, followed by his son Sety I. Major building programs were undertaken at the important cult centers, especially Karnak, where work continued on the huge Hypostyle Hall, begun under Horemheb. At Abydos Sety constructed a large temple for the god Osiris and the principal deities of the land. The king list carved in this temple, which does not include Hatshepsut, Akhenaten, Tutankhamen, and Ay, is a major source of information for the kings from the 1 st Dynasty up to Sety I s reign (see 2.9). Sety I s son Rameses II, was the second longest reigning king in ancient Egypt (67 years) a major reason that so many of his monuments are found throughout Egypt. (He also usurped cartouches of earlier kings on their monuments). At Karnak Rameses completed the enormous Hypostyle Hall, and built an entrance quay on the west that was connected to the Nile. At Luxor he added a large forecourt and pylon to Amenhotep III s temple. In Nubia, Rameses s most impressive monument is the pair of rock-cut temples of Abu Simbel. Both Sety I and Rameses II campaigned in Syria-Palestine and Nubia, while Libyan tribes began to be a problem to the northwest. With renovated Middle Kingdom forts and settled populations living in temple towns, Nubian campaigns were to secure mining areas (especially for gold) and quell indigenous rebellions. The Egyptians also raided areas beyond their control farther south. Nubians were drafted into the Egyptian army (and served abroad), and some were taken as slaves. Chiefs sons were sent to Egypt. Living in Egyptian temple towns, some Nubians became acculturated and by the end of the 18 th Dynasty the indigenous C-Group culture had disappeared. Centered on cult temples, the Nubian towns housed government officials, temple priests and personnel, and military personnel (although evidence of settlements has not been found around all temples). Nubian administration was organized into two major regions: Wawat in the north and Kush in the south, with provincial capitals at Aniba and Amara.

9 ITTC08 1/25/07 2:54 PM Page 215 The New Kingdom 215 Some temples in Egypt had land and trading rights in Nubia, granted to them by the crown, thus both state and temple exploited Nubia economically in the New Kingdom for its mines and quarries, and trade of costly raw materials which passed through Nubia from Punt and regions to the south. Decorated with pharaonic reliefs and inscriptions, the monumental stone temples in Nubia were impressive symbols of Egyptian power and deterrents to local people in an effort to control the region ideologically. In Syria-Palestine, more formidable military efforts were needed than in Nubia, and support of Egyptian armies that were sometimes sent there would have required largescale logistics. Both Sety I and Rameses II fought the other major power, the Hittites, in Syria. Although Rameses depicted his victory over the Hittites at Qadesh on his major monuments, the king barely managed to escape his foe s forces. The battle was not a decisive victory for either side, and territory fought for by the Egyptians remained in Hittite control. Seventeen years after the Battle of Qadesh a later Hittite king, Hattusili III, facing conflict with the Assyrians, concluded a peace treaty with the Egyptians actually a kind of non-aggression pact. In the northeast Delta at Qantir, Rameses founded a new capital, Piramesse, which was closer to Egypt s border fortress at Sile and the problematic vassal states in Syria- Palestine. During the 21 st Dynasty many of the stone monuments in Rameses s city were removed, and reused when the capital was relocated to Tanis. Although the monuments were missing at Qantir, German archaeologist Edgar Pusch has found evidence of stables, and a chariot garrison at the site is known from texts. Also excavated at the site is evidence of a huge bronze production facility, where Hittite workmen and Egyptians made Hittite-type shields (after Rameses s battle at Qadesh). Both Sety I and Rameses II were buried in impressive tombs in the Valley of the Kings, and the beautifully decorated tomb of Rameses s chief wife Nefertari is in the Valley of the Queens. An enormous tomb (KV 5) was also prepared for sons of Rameses II: with a number of wives, this king s offspring numbered over 100. Rameses II s fallen colossal statue in granite, at his mortuary temple in western Thebes, the Ramesseum, provided the subject for Percy Bysshe Shelley s poem Ozymandias, a corruption through Greek of the king s prenomen User-ma at-ra. Because of Rameses II s very long life, he outlived twelve elder sons, and was finally succeeded by his son Merenptah, who was probably quite old by then. After Merenptah, three other kings ruled briefly, and the 19 th Dynasty ended with the reign of a female ruler, Tausret. This queen was the chief wife of Sety II and became regent for her step-son Saptah, whose mummy has one shortened leg perhaps the result of polio. Tausret outlived Saptah to become sole ruler for only two years. The village of Deir el-medina in western Thebes, which housed the workers who built and decorated the royal tombs, was founded in the early 18 th Dynasty and occupied throughout the New Kingdom (except during Akhenaten s reign). Although some houses existed outside the settlement, most of the workers lived with their families inside the walled village. Several shrines and two cemeteries were also located outside the settlement. The planned village was densely populated, with typical houses consisting of four to six rooms, with a small open court for cooking in the back. A staircase led

10 ITTC08 1/25/07 2:54 PM Page The New Kingdom to the roof area, which was also utilized. All of the villagers needs were provided by the state: food, water, firewood, other raw materials, and tools for their work. During the 20 th Dynasty, the earliest known strike was recorded (the Turin Strike Papyrus) when tomb workers from the village refused to go to work because they had not received their rations. The 20 th Dynasty, which began with the short reign of Sethnakht followed by the reigns of nine kings named Rameses (III through XI), was a time of major problems both at home and abroad. The tomb workers strike occurred near the end of the reign of Rameses III, who also foiled an assassination conspiracy originating in his harem. Rameses III faced several invasions of foreigners and by the end of his reign Egypt no longer had a large empire in Syria-Palestine. The king won major battles against the Libyans in regnal years 5 and 11, and in year 8 he fought off a coalition of Sea Peoples. These peoples were part of a large migration of displaced groups moving in the eastern Mediterranean later in the 13 th century bc, which had caused the collapse of a number of Late Bronze Age states. The Sea Peoples, together with Libyans, had also threatened Egypt during Merenptah s reign. Different groups of Sea Peoples are named on the reliefs of Rameses III s mortuary temple at Medinet Habu, including the Peleset, from which the name of the place where they settled, Palestine, is derived. Increasingly in the 20 th Dynasty sources of royal income became directly controlled by temples, including land, foreign trade, and mining and quarrying expeditions. The Great Harris Papyrus in the British Museum, which is about 40 meters long, lists Rameses III s donations to Egyptian temples. This papyrus demonstrates the great amount of land owned by temples (about one-third of all cultivable land), especially the Temple of Amen at Karnak. The Wilbour Papyrus (reign of Rameses V) is informative about temple-owned land in Middle Egypt that was rented out to different people, providing a direct source of temple income. Economic problems in Egypt included inflation in the later 20 th Dynasty, especially of the value of emmer wheat and barley in relation to units of copper and silver, as documented by Egyptologist J. J. Janssen. From the reign of Rameses IX there is documentation of trials of tomb robbers, demonstrating a breakdown of sociopolitical control. Although tomb robbing took place in all periods, such records are exceptional. At the end of the dynasty there was a famine and Thebes was troubled by marauding Libyans. Thefts from temples and palaces also occurred then. The Theban royal tombs began to be robbed, and the royal mummies, stripped of their precious ornaments, were subsequently reburied in two locations: a tomb near Deir el-bahri, and in side chambers of the tomb of Amenhotep II where they were found in the late 19 th century. Civil war broke out between the high priest of Amen and the viceroy of Nubia, which was finally quelled by Rameses XI s army under General Piankh, who may later have assumed the roles of vizier and viceroy of Kush and high priest of Amen at Thebes. With Rameses XI s death, Piankh s son-in-law and heir, Hrihor, also took the royal titles, while a king named Smendes ruled in the north. Thus, the New Kingdom ended with divided control of Egypt.

11 ITTC08 1/25/07 2:54 PM Page 217 The New Kingdom 217 The Early New Kingdom 8.2 Early New Kingdom Architecture: Ahmose s Abydos Pyramid Complex, and the Theban Mortuary Temples of Hatshepsut and Thutmose III In the New Kingdom Abydos was once again an important cult center. As the ruler of a reunified Egypt, Ahmose chose Abydos for a monument which associates him with the god Osiris, and as a commemorative site for females of the royal family. Beginning in 1993, Stephen Harvey (University of Chicago) has been excavating in South Abydos where Ahmose s monuments were constructed. The site was first investigated in 1898 by the Egypt Exploration Society when Ahmose s pyramid was found by Arthur Mace. In 1902 Charles Currelly located a terraced temple over 1 kilometer away from the pyramid, as well as a small mud-brick shrine (probably a pyramid) for the king s grandmother Tetisheri, a subterranean shaft tomb, and a town and small cemetery. Harvey s work at South Abydos first concentrated on mapping the site, which had been razed in antiquity to build later monuments, collecting surface finds, and doing test excavations. Ahmose s pyramid is now a mound of sand and stone debris, ca. 80 meters 80 meters and 10 meters high. Many fragments of reliefs were found that originally decorated the pyramid temple. Some of these are from battle scenes with Asiatics (with the earliest known images of horses) probably depicting Ahmose s victory over the Hyksos. Harvey also located a previously unknown temple dedicated to Ahmose s chief wife, Queen Ahmose-Nefertari. Excavations of the town, where temple priests, personnel, and workmen probably lived, have uncovered evidence of bakeries, which fed the workers. A huge wall ca. 90 meters 60 meters which surrounded the town was located with a magnetometer, an on-ground remote sensing device used to locate buried archaeological remains. The only well preserved royal mortuary temple of the early 18 th Dynasty is that of Queen Hatshepsut at Deir el-bahri, which had associations with the goddess Hathor (see Figure 8.2 and Plate 8.1). Built next to and strongly influenced by the temple of the 11 th -Dynasty king Mentuhotep II (see 7.3), who reunified Egypt to found the Middle Kingdom, Hatshepsut s temple takes full advantage of its spectacular natural setting in a semicircular bay in the cliffs. Investigations were first conducted there by Auguste Mariette, and from 1893 to 1904 by Édouard Naville (for the Egypt Exploration Fund), who, working with Howard Carter, recorded the temple s reliefs and architecture, extensively published in seven volumes. Since 1961 the Polish Center of Mediterranean Archaeology (of Warsaw University) in Cairo has been restoring and recording the temple architecture, painted reliefs, and inscriptions. Originally connected by a causeway to a valley temple, now lost, is a walled lower court with a western colonnade. From this a ramp leads to second level with the temple s large second court. A second ramp then leads to the third level, with an upper colonnade, pillared upper court, and sanctuary, which was modified in Ptolemaic

12 ITTC08 1/25/07 2:54 PM Page The New Kingdom 50 m First court 2 Ramp 3 Lower colonnade 4 Second court 5 Hathor shrine 6 Middle colannade with scenes showing the expedition to Punt 7 Middle colonnade with scenes showing the divine birth of Hatshepsut and her ka 8 Anubis shrine 9 Upper colonnade 10 Cult chapel of Hatshepsut 11 Cult chapel of Thutmose I 12 Upper court 13 Sun court 14 Sanctuary 2 4 N 2 1 Figure 8.2 Plan of Hatshepsut s mortuary temple at Deir el-bahri. Source: G. Robbins, The Art of Ancient Egypt. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1997, p. 126 times. The sanctuary contained a stand for the bark of Amen-Ra, which was brought there during the Perfect Festival of the Wadi. Shrines include those to Hathor, Anubis, Amen, and an open solar court. Temple mortuary chapels were dedicated to Hatshepsut and her father Thutmose I. On the north side of the middle colonnade are reliefs of Hatshepsut s divine birth, which, as inscriptions indicate, legitimized her rule. As king, Hatshepsut is depicted in most of the temple s reliefs and statues as a male. Intentional

13 ITTC08 1/25/07 2:54 PM Page 219 The New Kingdom 219 destruction of the king/queen s cartouche, inscriptions, and statues occurred after her death, when Thutmose III finally reigned by himself. The famous Punt reliefs are on the south side of the middle colonnade (see Plate 8.2). The composition depicts the successful Punt expedition, of which Hatshepsut was undoubtedly proud, including the sea-faring journey there and back. Scenes in Punt show indigenous houses, animals, and people, including the supposed king and very heavy queen of Punt. Gold ingots and other raw materials of Punt are given to the Egyptian soldiers/sailors, who also return to Egypt with live incense trees carried on shipboard in pots. The logistics required to traverse the Eastern Desert, navigate the Red Sea, and return to Thebes, while supplying food and fresh water for the humans (and trees) makes this expedition a truly remarkable feat. Senenmut, the official (and probable architect) who oversaw the construction of Hatshepsut s magnificent temple, built a chapel overlooking the temple and a tomb beneath the temple s first court. Perched on the rock above Hatshepsut s temple is a similar though smaller temple built by Thutmose III, with three levels with colonnades reached by ramps. The temple was destroyed by a landslide in the late New Kingdom, and much of what remained was removed for reuse in other monuments. It was discovered by the Polish archaeologists in 1962, and they have reconstructed temple scenes from the remaining fragments of painted relief, now in the Luxor Museum. Thutmose Nile Valley of the Kings Deir el-bahri Dra Abu el-naga Mortuary Temple of Sety I Deir el-medina Qurna Valley of the Queens Malkata Karnak THEBES Luxor Nile 0 1 km 0 1 mile Map 8.3 New Kingdom map of the region of western Thebes

14 ITTC08 1/25/07 2:54 PM Page The New Kingdom III also built a mortuary temple within the floodplain to the southeast of the Deir el-bahri temples, but not much remains of this temple. In the New Kingdom a few private individuals were also granted permission to build mortuary chapels in western Thebes. The largest of these non-royal mortuary temples was built for Amenhotep son of Hapu, to the west of the mortuary temple that he constructed for his king, Amenhotep III. Considerably larger than the nearby mortuary temple of Thutmose II, Amenhotep son of Hapu s temple consisted of a sanctuary, entered through two pylons and courts, the first of which contained a large pool surrounded by trees. 8.3 Amenhotep III s Malkata Palace In the New Kingdom kings built smaller residences throughout the country, where they stayed as they traveled. At Medinet Gurob near the entrance to the Faiyum region Thutmose III built what may have been a kind of retreat near a harem palace for senior royal women, which also housed a weaving industry. Barry Kemp has reconstructed two of these small royal rest houses. A kind of 18 th -Dynasty hunting lodge was located near the Giza Sphinx, and to the south of Amenhotep III s palace in western Thebes at Malkata (at Kom el- Abd), the king built a small rest-house that was used for chariot exercise. Amenhotep III s large Malkata palace was built for his first sed-festival in regnal years In 1888 Georges Daressy did some initial exploration of the site, and the palace was first systematically excavated in the early 20 th century by British Egyptologist Percy E. Newberry and the American Robb de Peyster Tytus. Later excavations in the 1970s were conducted by David O Connor and Barry Kemp, and a Japanese expedition from Waseda University, Tokyo, which also located a ceremonial construction for the king s sed-festival at Malkata South. At Malkata Amenhotep erected a main palace surrounded by an enclosure wall, which was rebuilt, probably for later sed-festivals (which were celebrated in years 34 and 37) (see Figure 8.3). According to Kemp, use of the palace was ceremonial, while O Connor thinks that it also functioned as an administrative center. The main palace contained throne rooms, colonnaded reception and audience halls, courts, and private suites. There were also storerooms, kitchens, work rooms, and quarters for officials. Three or more subsidiary palaces were also built near the complex for members of the royal family, and to the north was a temple of Amen. High officials were housed in nearby villas and there was also a workmen s village ( North Village ) to the west of the North Palace. The mud-brick palace was lavishly decorated with colorful frescoes even in the storerooms. For example, in the great central hall the floor was covered with scenes of a papyrus marsh from which arose 16 columns ending in capitals of lotus buds. Painted on the steps to the king s throne were bound enemies and bows, which he would have trampled symbolically. The king s suite contained various private rooms, including a bathroom and bedroom with a raised bed platform. An antechamber there was painted with bulls heads and rosettes in a spiral design.

15 ITTC08 1/25/07 2:54 PM Page 221 The New Kingdom 221 N m Platform Modern village of Esbet Basili 83 North Palace 85 North Village 80 Main wadi Main Palace Modern fields Site L Site E House House House West Villas Side wadi West Annex Birket Habu mounds Figure 8.3 Plan of Amenhotep III s Malkata palace complex. Source: B. J. Kemp, Ancient Egypt: Anatomy of a Civilization, fig. 74. London: Routledge, Copyright 1989 by Routledge. Reproduced by permission of Taylor and Francis Books UK An enormous artificial lake, now called the Birket Habu, was excavated for ceremonial use and was later expanded to an area ca. 2 kilometers 1 kilometer. Some of the excavated soil from the lake was used to make a base for Amenhotep III s mortuary temple to the northeast, of which little remains. During the king s sed-festival, the lake was the setting for rituals involving ceremonial barges, which were towed, as described in a text in the Theban tomb of Kheruef (TT192), one of the high royal officials. Inscribed jar labels excavated in and around the Malkata site span a period from year 8 of Amenhotep III s reign to Horemheb s reign, but it is uncertain if the site was used during the Amarna Period. The jar labels indicate royal provisioning, not only for the large ceremonies that took place there periodically during Amenhotep III s reign, but also for state workers and personnel who built and cared for the site. 8.4 Tell el-amarna and the Amarna Period Before Amenhotep IV moved his court to the new capital at Tell el-amarna in Middle Egypt, he erected four shrines at East Karnak. Although his father Amenhotep III had constructed major temples at Luxor and Karnak, dedicated to the cult of Amen-Ra, his

16 ITTC08 1/25/07 2:54 PM Page The New Kingdom son s shrines in the Amen temple precinct at Karnak honored the sun-disk deity Aten. The new cult established by Amenhotep IV, who subsequently changed his name to Akhenaten to honor this deity, was later regarded as heresy. Akhenaten s Karnak monuments were dismantled and blocks of relief from these shrines were used as fill in later constructions at Karnak and Luxor, where they have been found in the course of restoration work in the later 19 th and 20 th centuries. Decorated with reliefs and inscriptions, the 80,000 90,000 recovered blocks formed a kind of enormous jigsaw puzzle to reconstruct for the Akhenaten Temple Project of the University of Toronto, beginning in An important part of the project, directed by Donald Redford (now at Pennsylvania State University), were excavations at East Karnak to determine the architectural context of the reliefs from foundation remains. Akhenaten s Karnak reliefs display the early forms of his radically new Atenist religion, which could not have pleased the priests of the nearby Amen cult. Aten is depicted as a sun-disk with rays ending in human hands, which extend the hieroglyph for life (ankh) to the king and his queen Nefertiti (see Plate 8.3). With the change in religion, there was also a change in art style. The king is depicted in a bizarrely mannered style, with bloated belly, wide hips, fleshy breasts, and a thin elongated face with large lips and bulbous chin. Colossal statues of the king, in the same style and with cartouches carved on his arms and torso (also an innovation), were originally in a court at East Karnak. The shrines were erected quickly, made possible by the innovation of the so-called talatat blocks of sandstone used to decorate the monuments, which were small enough so that one workman could carry one block on his shoulder. It has been suggested that Akhenaten suffered from a glandular disease which deformed his body, as seen in the early sculpture, but Nefertiti is depicted in the same exaggerated style. Both the king and queen are also known in sculpture of a highly realistic style, including the famous Nefertiti head in Berlin (see Plate 8.4). Since Akhenaten s mummy has not been identified, such a theory cannot be tested on his physical remains, and an art style alone cannot demonstrate a medical problem. Relief scenes from East Karnak include the king s sed-festival, which was celebrated quite early in his reign, in year 2 or 3. The royal couple also perform the ritual of presenting offerings to Aten, while scenes honoring the other important deities are absent. Many temple scenes are of the king and queen in daily life, albeit of a ceremonial nature within the context of temple and palace, such as riding their chariots and making appearances at a special palace window (the Window of Appearances ). Other reliefs include scenes of workmen building the temple all of which are a radical departure for temple decoration that would be repeated later at Amarna. The importance of Nefertiti in the Aten cult is clear, and one whole monument at Karnak was devoted to her without Akhenaten. Akhenaten s later monuments were located at Akhetaten (Tell el-amarna), the capital he founded on the east bank in Middle Egypt, which also became the cult center of Aten (see Figure 8.4). Given the usually poor preservation of ancient settlements in Egypt, Amarna s remains are exceptional. The site was surveyed in the early 19 th century, and Flinders Petrie conducted the first extensive excavations there in the 1890s. From 1901 to 1907 Norman de Garis Davies carefully copied scenes and inscriptions

17 ITTC08 1/25/07 2:54 PM Page 223 The New Kingdom 223 Stela V North Riverside Palace North Tombs North Palace Stela U Great Temple North Suburb To the Royal Tomb Central City Nile River Great Palace Small Temple King s House Thutmose Workshop South Suburb Workmen s Village South Tombs Royal Road Kom el-nana N Maruaten Stela M Stela N km 0 1 mile Figure 8.4 Plan of the city of Akhetaten (the site of Tell el-amarna), including the eastern tombs. Source: R. E. Freed, Y. J. Markowitz, and S. H. D Auria (eds.), Pharaohs of the Sun. Akhenaten. Nefertiti. Tutankhamen. Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1999 from tombs and boundary stelae. German archaeologist Ludwig Borchart excavated at the site before World War I, which is why the famous head of Nefertiti is in the Egyptian Museum in Berlin. Since 1977 Barry Kemp has been systematically investigating the site for the Egypt Exploration Society, which also sponsored excavations there after World War I. The city of Akhetaten, which covered an area of ca. 440 hectares, had no surrounding wall. Although it was a special purpose city, it nonetheless provides an example of

18 ITTC08 1/25/07 2:54 PM Page The New Kingdom Sanctuary House of the Chief Servitor of the Aten m ft Stela Police barracks N Butcher s Yard THE GREAT TEMPLE Gem Aten Storehouse of Ka of Re Lives Inn? Records Office Office of Works Clerks House offices of Life Military quarters Palace rubbish heaps The House of Rejoicing Offering Tables Storehouses rich in provisions The King s House Sanctuary Storehouse of the service of the Aten ROYAL ROAD Garden Bridge Entrance Smaller temple or Chapel Royal North & South Harems PALACE Great Pillared Hall Figure 8.5 Plan of the central city of Akhetaten. Source: W. Stevenson Smith, The Art and Architecture of Ancient Egypt. Harmondsworth: Penguin, Courtesy of the Egyptian Exploration Society Egyptian urban planning (see Figure 8.5). The city was organized with a core center planned on a grid, with administrative buildings and residences of different sizes extending southward to the River Temple. To the north were the North City, North Suburb (with ca. 300 houses), and two palaces. To the east was a walled workmen s village (with ca. 70 houses), and rock-cut tombs for high officials were in northern and southern groups in the eastern cliffs. The Royal Tomb was located up a central wadi in the eastern cliffs, near the mouth of which was a stone village where men working in the tombs stayed during the work week. The city was occupied for about 11 years during Akhenaten s reign, and abandoned by the court early in Tutankhaten/-amen s reign. Some occupation continued there in the 19 th Dynasty, when the Amarna stone temples were dismantled and statues smashed (probably during the reign of Rameses II), but mud-brick buildings were simply left to decay. The site was briefly reoccupied in Roman times, and in Coptic times monks lived in some of the northern tombs, one of which became a small church.

19 ITTC08 1/25/07 2:54 PM Page 225 The New Kingdom 225 The central city contained the largest temple and palace. With an enclosure wall ca. 730 meters 229 meters, the Great Aten Temple was entered on the west from the Royal Road. Within this huge enclosure were two main stone structures: the Sanctuary on the east, and the composite Per Hai/Gem Aten ( House of Rejoicing / Finding the Aten ) to the west. The latter consisted of a columned court and a series of open courts with offering tables and sanctuaries, to the north and south of which were ca. 1,800 open-air offering tables. The Sanctuary has been reconstructed by Kemp as an open-air temple built on an elevated platform. Two courts contained numerous small altars, with the temple s high altar in the second one. The Sanctuary represents a new style of temple architecture, with the innermost room open to the sun, instead of a dark closed sanctuary for the god s statue. As depicted in Amarna reliefs, Akhenaten and Nefertiti honored Aten at this altar, piled high with food. To the south of the Great Temple were associated structures, including over 100 baking rooms where many sherds of bread molds were found, as well as the official residence of the high priest Panehesy. There was also a small private palace (the King s House ), which probably contained a Window of Appearances (as depicted in numerous reliefs). According to Kemp, this palace was associated with the largest granaries at Amarna (ca. 2,000 sq. m) suggesting royal and not temple control of basic staples for the king s officials. A small temple (the House of Aten ), was possibly some kind of royal mortuary temple, and to the east of this were administrative buildings, including the so-called Records Office, where the Amarna Letters were found (see Box 8-A). Farther east were quarters for the military police and stables. To the west of the Royal Road, which was spanned by a triple-arched bridge, was the Great Palace, much of which has been destroyed by later cultivation. On the east side were rooms of the so-called North and South Harems, a garden court with a pool, and many storerooms. This part of the palace was colorfully painted, including a columned portico with pavement scenes of a papyrus marsh full of birds, with fish swimming in a rectangular pool. The palace had a large courtyard around which were colossal statues of Akhenaten, and associated buildings, all in stone, probably for special receptions and ceremonies. To the south was an enormous hall with 510 mud-brick columns in 30 rows. To the south of the central city was a residential area, the Main City, which Kemp characterizes as a series of joined villages. House compounds there included that of the sculptor Thutmose, where Nefertiti s head and other royal sculptures were found. Large circular wells, each with a spiraling ramp, were located throughout this part of the city. Large houses were next to small ones, and although there was a hierarchy of house sizes, which suggests a hierarchy of socio-political status at Amarna, there were not exclusive neighborhoods only for high status families. Amarna houses were walled mud-brick residences within a brick enclosure wall. The large house of the vizier Nakht had 30 rooms (many of which were only a few square meters in area), but even he, as one of the highest ranking government officials, lived in a significantly smaller dwelling than the palaces of the royal family. A typical large house at Amarna had a small entrance room, a columned reception hall, and a living room with an elevated platform where the owner (and his wife?) sat. This part of the

20 ITTC08 1/25/07 2:54 PM Page The New Kingdom Box 8-A The Amarna Letters The Amarna Letters were found by peasants at the site of Amarna in 1887, before proper excavations had begun there. Unfortunately, a number of tablets were lost before they were recognized for what they are: Egypt s diplomatic correspondence with the major and minor powers in southwest Asia. Over 380 tablets are known from Amarna, mostly dating to the reign of Akhenaten and coming from a royal archive. But a few tablets are from the latter part of Amenhotep III s reign and possibly the early years of Tutankhamen s reign. The letters were written on clay tablets in cuneiform script, and a few also have inked hieratic (Egyptian) notes of scribes recording their receipt at Akhetaten. Cuneiform was used to write a number of different languages in southwest Asia for about 3,000 years. The language in most of the Amarna cuneiform texts is (middle) Babylonian, of a regional form used in the diplomatic correspondence of the ancient Near Eastern powers of the Late Bronze Age. The letters provide a wealth of information about Egypt s foreign affairs. Some of the correspondence was with the kings of independent states: Assyria, Babylonia, Hatti (the Hittites), Mitanni (northern Syria), Arzawa (southern coastal Anatolia), and Alashiya (Cyprus). Egypt definitely had the upper hand in these negotiations of valuable gifts, craftsmen, and royal women sent to Egypt, mainly in exchange for Egyptian gold. Letters from the small polities of coastal Syria and Palestine that were under Egyptian control are more about administrative matters, and there are many requests for Egyptian military aid painting a picture of squabbling selfinterest and petty conflicts. The letters also provide some information about the increasing success of the Hittites in extending their territory from central Anatolia into northern Syria, at Egypt s expense. A note can be added on the end of the Amarna Period. A widowed Egyptian queen (probably Tutankhamen s) wrote a letter to the Hittite king Suppiluliuma stating that there was no king ruling in Egypt. She asked for a Hittite prince to be sent to Egypt so that he could become king. This, of course, would never have been accepted by Egyptian officials and aspirants to the throne. The Hittite prince was assassinated on his way to Egypt, and the last rulers of the 18 th Dynasty, Ay (briefly) and (General) Horemheb, were not the descendents of Akhenaten or Tutankhamen. house had a raised ceiling, with windows just below the roof line. There were also private quarters with bedrooms and a bathroom. A staircase led to the roof, which may have been used in warm weather, but the larger houses may have had upper stories. Private shrines with reliefs of Akhenaten and Nefertiti worshipping Aten, sometimes set within a garden, have been found at some Amarna houses. Barry Kemp has described the basic elements of an Amarna house compound, which included circular grain silos in a court (but some houses also had larger vaulted rooms for grain storage). That grain was stored in private houses indicates some economic independence from the crown, which did not provide sustenance for all the inhabitants at Amarna, and probably private land holdings of such individuals. Cooking took place in ovens and hearths outside the house, and animals were kept in sheds. Trees and possibly vegetable gardens were also associated with some houses. Larger houses were also where small-scale production facilities were located, including weaving and potting. Artisan s workshops could be within the compound or just outside the walls.

21 ITTC08 1/25/07 2:54 PM Page 227 The New Kingdom 227 With no public sewage system, garbage and waste was dumped outside the houses, often near the public wells. The eastern workmen s village was organized much more rigidly along five north south streets, with about 70 small houses, including one for an overseer. Unlike the city of Akhetaten, the village was surrounded by a thin wall. Arranged in six blocks, the houses consisted of a hall or court, living room, and two small rear rooms and a back staircase to the roof. Upper rooms may have been added by the inhabitants. The state must have provided water, grain, and basic materials and tools to the workers. Animal pens were located outside the village, where there is evidence of a pig industry. Pigs were butchered and the meat was salted and packed in jars, probably to supplement the villagers income. A number of mud-brick chapels, most of which were built after Akhenaten s death, were also outside the village. Not associated with graves, the chapels may have been used by families for commemorative feasts or festivals. Some chapels honored Aten, but other deities including Amen-Ra, were also worshipped. Unlike the geography at Thebes, the Amarna tombs were in the cliffs to the east of the city. The Royal Tomb and four unfinished tombs were located farther east in the Royal Wadi. Although unfinished and robbed, the royal tomb still had smashed pieces of a sarcophagus in a pillared hall. According to Egyptologist Geoffrey Martin, who has studied this tomb, one room may have been intended for Nefertiti s burial. Relief scenes in rooms which open off of the tomb stairway include a royal woman s funeral, perhaps the result of the death of one of Akhenaten s daughters during childbirth. Located in two groups to the north and south of the Royal Wadi, most of the Amarna tombs were unfinished when the city was abandoned by the court. In the desert near the northern tombs were three so-called desert altars, which Kemp suggests may have been built for some kind of short-term royal celebration. Many of the reliefs that decorate the Amarna tombs are in poor condition, in part because of the poor quality of limestone in which they were carved. Pre-Amarna Period tombs have relatively few religious scenes and texts, which are missing in the Amarna tombs (with many more in post-amarna Period tombs). But traditional scenes of the tomb owner, his offices, and his estates, are missing at Amarna. Thus, even in the mortuary cult there were major ideological changes at Amarna. Osirian themes, concerning the most important Egyptian afterlife beliefs, are absent in these tombs. Many tomb scenes focus on the royal family and their activities, especially scenes honoring Aten. Very detailed scenes show the architecture of the palace, Great Temple, and other buildings (as on many talatat blocks) which has also helped archaeologists to better understand the plans and functions of these buildings. But interpretation of these scenes is not simple because they are not straightforward plans or elevations. Also found in reliefs from Amarna tombs and other monuments is a change in subject matter. The royal family is frequently depicted in intimate scenes of familiarity. One fragmentary stela even has Nefertiti seated on Akhenaten s lap, and the king is often shown holding or kissing his small daughters (see Figure 8.6). Such scenes are not known before or after the Amarna Period, and seem undignified compared to traditional scenes of the idealized god-king. Possibly Akhenaten had ideological reasons for such depictions of the royal family. Scenes of the army parading along

22 ITTC08 1/25/07 2:54 PM Page The New Kingdom Figure 8.6 Fragmented relief of Akhenaten with Nefertiti on his lap holding two princesses. Photo RMN Franck Raux the Royal Road at Akhetaten (and not in battle) are also common. Given the major economic problems that must have arisen when the many gods cults (and their priesthoods and temple personnel) were no longer supported, Akhenaten certainly needed the support of the military during his 17-year reign. Another of the many changes that occurred during the Amarna Period is the use in texts of Late Egyptian, which was the vernacular of the time. For traditional reasons, Middle Egyptian, which was no longer the spoken language, continued to be used in official and religious texts, but Amarna texts are written in a form of Late Egyptian. The Hymn to Aten, which is found inscribed in Amarna tombs, describes an omnipotent and universal god, the creator of all living things which is also depicted in a lively and naturalistic style in reliefs from Karnak. A number of images in this hymn are paralleled in the 104 th Psalm in the Old Testament. Akhenaten has sometimes been called the world s first monotheist, and even Sigmund Freud wrote a book about this: Moses and Monotheism. But Akhenaten s

23 ITTC08 1/25/07 2:54 PM Page 229 The New Kingdom 229 religion had a dual aspect: the celestial Aten, and the worship of the god through his son Akhenaten (and Nefertiti). Thus, there was a certain remoteness to the sun-disk Aten, who unlike other Egyptian gods was not depicted in an anthropomorphized image. As noted above, the changes that occurred were cultural, not only religious, and the reforms were of such an all-encompassing nature that they probably emanated directly from Akhenaten. The Amarna Period is a fascinating though brief time that produced extraordinarily beautiful art and decoration and a royal capital that has been extensively investigated by archaeologists. It is both ironic and fortuitous that because of so much intentional dismantling and reuse of stone from Akhenaten s monuments a great deal of information about this unique period has been preserved. 8.5 The Amarna Aftermath and Tutankhamen s Tomb Late in Akhenaten s reign Nefertiti was possibly named Akhenaten s co-regent (Neferneferuaten), and their oldest daughter, Meritaten, was named her father s consort not a wife but the most important female in the court. Meritaten married Smenkhkara (of uncertain parentage), who ruled briefly(?) after Akhenaten s death, but with his death Tutankhaten became king at age eight or nine. Tutankhaten, who was probably Akhenaten s son by another wife (Kiya?), married Ankhesenpaaten, perhaps 12 years old, the third daughter of Akhenaten and Nefertiti and probably her husband s half-sister. By year 3 of Tutankhaten s reign the court had returned to Memphis, and the Amarna revolution was over. Highly debated is whether Akhenaten s mummy was brought back to Thebes and buried in a small tomb in the Valley of the Kings (KV 55), but the mummy of an unidentified male in this tomb is too young to be that of Akhenaten. A gilded wooden shrine, originally made for Akhenaten s mother Tiy, was also found in this tomb, along with burial equipment that had been planned for a secondary wife of Akhenaten s, Kiya. Tutankhaten s name was changed to Tutankhamen, and a royal edict was issued, which was inscribed on the Restoration Stela. The stela describes Egypt during the previous reign as a country that had been abandoned by the gods. To restore order, the old cults, especially that of Amen-Ra, were reopened, new cult statues were made, and revenues that had previously gone to the Aten cult were directed to other temples throughout Egypt. Although not stated on the stela, the destruction of Akhenaten s monuments also began at this time. It is unlikely that the young Tutankhamen implemented these changes himself; he was probably manipulated by high court officials and priests of the traditional cults. One official who may have been instrumental in the subsequent events was Ay, possibly a brother of the boy-king s deceased grandmother Tiy (chief wife of Amenhotep III and mother of Akhenaten). Although a tomb had probably been started for Tutankhaten at Amarna, it was abandoned and another one was prepared at Thebes but remained unfinished at the time of his death. A CT scan of Tutankhamen s

24 ITTC08 1/25/07 2:54 PM Page The New Kingdom mummy in 2005 revealed a kneecap fracture, which possibly became infected and was the cause of his early death. Tutankhamen was an insignificant king, famous today only because his small cluttered tomb was found mostly intact in 1922 with huge amounts of gold artifacts (see Box 8-B), unlike all other royal tombs of the New Kingdom. Although there is evidence that ancient robbers had penetrated the tomb twice, they must have been caught Box 8-B Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon: the discovery of Tutankhamen s tomb In 1901 George Edward Stanhope Molyneux Herbert, fifth Earl of Carnarvon, was in a car accident in Germany, which left him frail and unhealthy. His doctor recommended wintering in warmer climes and in 1903 he went to Egypt, where he took up Egyptology as a kind of hobby. The next year, realizing that he needed a trained professional, Lord Carnarvon hired Howard Carter, who had been working in Egypt since Their collaboration would ultimately lead to one of the greatest archaeological discoveries in the world. In the years before World War I Carter excavated a number of private tombs in western Thebes and in early 1915 he began excavating in the Valley of the Kings, the concession for which had been previously held by a wealthy American from Newport, RI, Theodore Davis. With Lord Carnarvon in England, Carter s exploration of the Valley of the Kings was curtailed by World War I until For the next five years he searched in the Valley for Tutankhamen s tomb with no success, and in 1922 Lord Carnarvon decided to end his financial support. But at Highclere Castle, Carter said that he would personally fund a final field season, to excavate in one last area in the Valley. Relenting, Lord Carnarvon agreed to fund the work. On November 1, 1922 Carter began digging in an area where in 1920/21 he had stopped working because all he found were the huts of workmen employed constructing the tomb of Rameses VI. Three days later, on November 4, his workmen uncovered the top of a rock-cut stairway. The next day more steps were cleared, revealing a plastered wall covered with stamped cartouches. Covering up the steps, Carter then sent a telegram to Lord Carnarvon in England about a wonderful discovery... congratulations. Taking a ship from Southampton, Lord Carnarvon arrived by train in Luxor with his daughter on November 23. Work at the newly discovered tomb began the next day, when more clearance of the plastered wall revealed the cartouche of Tutankhamen. The plaster covered stone blocks, which were removed, opening into a descending corridor. At the end was another plastered wall, also stamped with cartouches. Puzzled, Carter made a small hole in this wall and inserted a candle late in the afternoon of November 26. Looking into what would be called the tomb s Antechamber, Carter felt hot air escaping. He would later write:... presently, as my eyes grew accustomed to the light, details of the room within emerged slowly from the mist, strange animals, statues, and gold everywhere the glint of gold (see Figures 8.7 and 8.8). But not long after the king s burial chamber had been opened Lord Carnarvon was bitten on his cheek by a mosquito, and he nicked the bite while shaving. The opening became infected, and he developed pneumonia. Antibiotics had not yet been discovered, and the earl, frail since his auto accident, died in Cairo on April 5, 1923 at age 57. There were no curses written anywhere in Tutankhamen s tomb, however, as was rumored in the press. Unfortunately, Lord Carnarvon s death created a number of problems with the Egyptian authorities in 1924, but Howard Carter would eventually spend a number of years with a team of experts and workmen, recording, photographing, conserving, packing, and clearing Tutankhamen s tomb. It was the discovery of a lifetime, and he died at home in London in 1939, at age 65.

25 ITTC08 1/25/07 2:54 PM Page 231 The New Kingdom 231 Figure 8.7 Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon in Tutankhamen s tomb. Griffith Institute, Oxford Figure 8.8 View of the antechamber of Tutankhamen s tomb, taken in Griffith Institute, Oxford

26 ITTC08 1/25/07 2:54 PM Page The New Kingdom or stopped before much could be stolen or damaged, and the tomb was resealed by officials. Much smaller than other royal tombs of the 18 th Dynasty, Tutankhamen s tomb (KV62) was not planned for his burial, but was quickly adapted for it when the young king died. Its discovery by Howard Carter is truly one of the great stories in modern archaeology. Because of Carter s meticulous care in recording all artifacts in the tomb in situ, by drawings, notes, photographs, and a numbering system, the context of each item found in the tomb is known. If the tomb had been extensively robbed in antiquity most tomb goods would have been lost, with the gold melted down for reuse. If the tomb had been robbed in recent times, tomb goods would have been sold to antiquities dealers piece by piece, and the true arrangement of the king s burial would remain unknown. Fortunately, the wonderful things in Tutankhamen s tomb that Carter found and then recorded were carefully packed and sent to the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, where generations of visitors to Egypt (as well as scholars) have marveled at this great discovery. The tomb consists of four small rooms entered from a long corridor at the bottom of 16 steps cut into the limestone bedrock (see Figure 8.9). The first is the co-called Antechamber in which there were three large beds, disassembled chariots covered in gold foil, travertine vessels, and various stools and boxes. Also found in the Antechamber was the famous Golden Throne, with an inlaid scene on the back of the king being anointed by his wife with perfumed oil (see Plate 8.5). Above the royal couple is the Aten sun-disk indicating that the throne was made at the end of the Amarna Period. Names of both the king and the queen in the cartouches on the throne had been altered to read Tutankhamen and Ankhesenamen, but one cartouche on the outer arm still reads Tutankhaten. To the west of the Antechamber in Tutankhamen s tomb is the smaller Annex, found packed with a disorderly lot of furniture, wine jars, travertine vessels, and 116 baskets with fruit. On the north side of the Antechamber was the sealed entrance to the Burial Chamber, flanked by two wooden statues of the king with a gold-covered N Tomb of Tutankhamun (Tomb 62) Burial chamber Treasury Corridor Tomb of Rameses VI (Tomb 9) overlying Tutankhamun s tomb Annex Antechamber 0 15 m 0 50 ft Figure 8.9 Plan of Tutankhamen s tomb (KV 62), overlain by part of the tomb of Rameses VI (KV 9). Source: C. N. Reeves, The Complete Tutankhamun. London: Thames and Hudson, 1990, p. 55

27 ITTC08 1/25/07 2:54 PM Page 233 The New Kingdom 233 headdress, kilt, and jewelry, holding a gold mace and striding with his walking stick. The Burial Chamber is the only decorated room in the tomb with mortuary inscriptions and scenes of the funeral and of Tutankhamen with gods of the afterlife, especially Osiris. Tutankhamen s mummy was placed within a series of four gold-covered shrines bolted shut, with only a narrow space between the outermost one and the walls of the burial chamber (see Figure 8.10). It took Carter eight months to carefully dismantle the shrines, inside of which was a quartzite sarcophagus. Within the sarcophagus were three nested coffins. The outer two coffins are made of wood covered with gold foil, and the innermost coffin is of solid gold. Covering the mummy was a solid gold mask of the king wearing the nemes headdress (see Plate 8.6). Within the many layers of linen wrappings, the mummy was covered with over 100 pieces of jewelry, amulets, and ornaments, mostly in gold and something very rare for the time, a gold-handled dagger with an iron blade. The Treasury, opening to the north of the Burial Chamber, was protected with a crouching statue of the jackal-god Anubis on a portable shrine, covered in a linen shroud. There were many boxes in this room along with model boats, but the most important artifact was the gold-covered canopic shrine containing a travertine chest with the king s embalmed viscera in small gold coffins (see Plate 8.7). Two mummified fetuses were also in small coffins in an undecorated box in the Treasury, perhaps from miscarriages of Tutankhamen s wife Ankhesenamen. The amazing finds in Tutankhamen s tomb can only be briefly discussed here. Aside from the large artifacts described above, Tutankhamen was buried with just about everything he would need in life. Clothing includes linen garments, and even underwear in the form of triangular loincloths. Twenty-seven pairs of gloves were found, including a small pair used by the king as a child. Materials for sandals range from gold to beaded leather and woven papyrus. One box contained the king s shaving equipment, and there are sets of writing equipment with pens, pen cases, and a papyrus burnisher. Musical instruments include ivory clappers, sistra, and trumpets made of silver or copper alloy. There is an inlaid ebony game board for senet, and another one for the game of 20 squares. A tiny coffin nested within three larger coffins contained a braided lock of hair, which, according to the inscription, had belonged to Tutankhamen s grandmother, Queen Tiy. Sixteen bows were found throughout the tomb, and other weapons include clubs, throw-sticks, daggers, and swords. Numerous vessels are made of pottery, travertine, faïence, glass, silver, and gold. Real food in the tomb includes pieces of beef, sheep/goat, geese, ducks, loaves of bread, and seeds of emmer wheat and barley. Lentils, chick peas, and peas were also found. Flavoring for the king s food includes garlic bulbs, juniper berries, coriander, fenugreek, sesame seeds, and black cumin as well as two jars of honey. Whole fruits were found in baskets, including persea, dates, sycamore figs, and grapes/raisins and there were also watermelon seeds. Twenty-six of the wine jars found in the tomb had hieratic inscriptions, many of which identified the type of wine inside, its date (regnal year of Tutankhamen), where it came from and even the name of the chief vintner. Bouquets of real flowers had been left in the tomb, and a wreath of (imported?) olive leaves and blue flowers was found on top of the king s outermost coffin.

28 ITTC08 1/25/07 2:54 PM Page The New Kingdom Figure 8.10 Plan of Tutankhamen s burial chamber, with four shrines, sarcophagus, and coffins. Source: C. N. Reeves, The Complete Tutankhamun. London: Thames and Hudson, 1990, p. 85. Reprinted by permission of the Griffith Institute

29 ITTC08 1/25/07 2:54 PM Page 235 The New Kingdom 235 Ay, who briefly became ruler after Tutankhamen s death, was buried in a larger tomb in the (west) Valley of the Kings, perhaps the one originally intended for Tutankhamen. General Horemheb, who became the last ruler of the 18 th Dynasty, had earlier built a beautifully decorated tomb at Saqqara (see 8.10), but as king he was buried in the Valley of the Kings. Ay s mortuary temple in western Thebes was later usurped by Horemheb. New Kingdom Temples 8.6 Restoration of the Traditional Gods: Sety I s Abydos Temple Destruction of Akhenaten s monuments continued in the 19 th Dynasty, and restoration of the old cults included the construction of new monuments to Egypt s gods. At Abydos, the important cult center for Osiris, the god who judged all in the afterlife, Sety I built a large temple to the south of the earlier Kom el-sultan temple to Khentiamentiu/Osiris (in which the earliest artifacts are from Early Dynastic times) (see Figure 8.11). Sety s temple, which was worked on by Rameses II, was cleared Entrance passage Chapels of Nefertem and Ptah-Sokar Osireion N 7 chapels Hypostyle halls Second court Stone Wells and first court Pylon Mud-brick Magazines 0 50 m ft Figure 8.11 Abydos, plan of the temple of Sety I/Rameses II. Source: R. H. Wilkinson, The Complete Temples of Ancient Egypt. New York: Thames and Hudson, 2000, p. 147

30 ITTC08 1/25/07 2:54 PM Page The New Kingdom in the 19 th century by Auguste Mariette. To the north of his father s temple, Rameses also built for himself a comparable but smaller temple decorated on the outside with scenes of his Battle at Qadesh. Sety I s Abydos temple originally had two forecourts, with a large pylon fronting the first one, next to which was a large block of long narrow storerooms. These structures are in ruins today and the entrance to the present temple begins at the second portico. Behind this portico are two transverse hypostyle halls, with seven chapels in the rear of the temple dedicated to the deified Sety I, and to Ptah, Ra-Horakhty, Amen, Osiris, Isis, and Horus the most important state gods. Behind these chapels are rooms dedicated to Osiris, Isis, and Horus, the largest of which is a columned hall with reliefs of the king making offerings to Osiris. The ground plan of the temple forms an unusual L, with an addition to the south of the seven chapels including chapels of two important Memphite gods, Nefertem and Ptah-Sokar. In this area of the temple is Sety s famous king list, which excludes the illegitimate rulers of the Amarna Period and its aftermath. A second structure was also built by Sety I (and partly decorated by King Merenptah), behind and aligned to the Osiris temple. This is the so-called Osireion, a symbolic tomb of Osiris. Massive red granite piers surround the underground tomb, which was designed like a royal tomb in the Valley of the Kings. The passage leading to it is decorated with mortuary compositions, as in a royal tomb. The tomb itself was surrounded by water, with a sarcophagus and canopic chest for Osiris s burial symbolizing the mound of creation emerging from the primeval waters. 8.7 The Temples of Karnak and Luxor in the New Kingdom Karnak and Luxor were the major foci of royal temple construction in the New Kingdom, both before and after the Amarna Period. On the east bank of the Nile, the Temple of Karnak, centered around the cult of the god Amen, became the largest temple in Egypt. In the Egyptian pantheon, Amen, which means the hidden one, had become associated with the Heliopolitan sun-god Ra at the beginning of the Middle Kingdom. Amen-Ra was the supreme king of all gods, and the earthly king was Amen s son and beloved of Amen, and the intermediary between gods and humans. The Theban triad of gods consisted of Amen, Mut, and Khonsu, and within the Amen precinct is the Temple of Khonsu, begun by Rameses III of the 20 th Dynasty. About 350 meters to the south of the Amen precinct is the precinct of the temple of Amen s consort Mut, which was mainly built by Amenhotep III and Rameses III. Hundreds of black granite statues of the lion-headed goddess Sekhmet have been unearthed in the Mut precinct during the last two centuries. The most recent excavations there have been conducted by an expedition of The Brooklyn Museum and Johns Hopkins University. Also at Karnak, immediately to the north of the Amen precinct, is the precinct for a temple which was dedicated to Montu, an ancient hawk or falcon god of the Theban area, in the later New Kingdom.

31 ITTC08 1/25/07 2:54 PM Page 237 The New Kingdom 237 Dedicated to Amen of Luxor (Amenope), the Temple of Luxor was the southern destination of the Opet festival (see Figure 8.12). Construction of most of the present temple was done by Amenhotep III, who dismantled earlier works there. Aligned toward the Karnak temple from north to south, Amenhotep s temple proceeded from a colonnade with 12 huge columns, with capitals in the shape of an open papyrus, which was added to the temple later in his reign. In front of the colonnade was an entrance flanked by two colossal statues of the king. Reliefs on colonnade walls, including scenes of the Opet festival, were carved later during the reigns of Tutankhamen and Ay, but were usurped by Horemheb. To the south of the colonnade were a large peristyle court around which were two rows of columns, a hypostyle hall, and two columned halls which led to the bark shrine. To the south of the bark shrine and closed off from it were a transverse columned hall and Amenope s sanctuary, where the god s statue stood on a large altar. During the reign of Rameses II, a large peristyle forecourt was added to the north of Amenhotep III s pylon, and Rameses converted an earlier bark station for the Opet procession into a triple shrine for Amen, Mut, and Khonsu. On the north side of this court Rameses built a huge pylon, fronted by seated colossal statues of the king and by his two obelisks, one of which was removed in and now stands in Paris, in the Place de la Concorde. More scenes of Rameses s Battle of Qadesh are found on this pylon. Extensive recording and study of the reliefs and inscriptions of the Luxor temple colonnade have been conducted by the Epigraphic Survey of the Oriental Institute, University of Chicago. Unlike the Temple of Luxor, the main orientation of the Karnak temple is east west (see Figure 8.13), from which the bark of Amen would travel to the royal mortuary temples on the west bank in the Perfect Festival of the Wadi. From the Karnak temple there was also a series of pylons and courts aligned north south, leading to the processional route to Luxor of the Opet Festival. Although Middle Kingdom structures have been identified from foundations (and the reconstructed bark shrine of Senusret I; see 7.5), the standing architecture there today dates to the New Kingdom and later. Kings of the early 18 th Dynasty built structures at Karnak, many of which were dismantled later in the dynasty. The Fourth and Fifth Pylons in the current numbering system, erected by Thutmose I, were at the entrance to the central cult area. Hatshepsut later erected two huge obelisks between these pylons, and scenes of transporting them by barge from the Aswan quarries are found in her Deir el-bahri temple. Thutmose III later built a wall to hide his stepmother s two obelisks, but the northern one, which is 29.5 meters high and weighs over 300 tons, still stands there today. To the south of these he added the Seventh Pylon, flanked by his own obelisks. Thutmose III s Festival Hall at Karnak was erected to the east of the sanctuary and a large court with remains of the Middle Kingdom temple. With an entrance on the southwest of a large hall with four rows of columns, there is no axial procession through this temple to the Amen sanctuary, which is off to one side. Carved in the Botanical Room of Thutmose s hall were scenes of foreign fauna and flora, which have been identified by French Egyptologist Natalie Beaux. The majority of the plants depicted are from regions in the eastern Mediterranean, but there are also ones from northeast Africa and a few now found only in sub-saharan Africa.

32 ITTC08 1/25/07 2:54 PM Page The New Kingdom Peristyle court of Amenhotep III N 4 Peristyle court of Rameses II Mosque Triple barque shrine m Figure 8.12 Plan of the Temple of Luxor: (1) obelisk, (2) seated colossi of Rameses II, (3) pylon of Rameses II, (4) colonnade of Amenhotep III, (5) hypostyle hall, (6) first antechamber, (7) second antechamber, (8) birth room, (9) bark shrines of Amenhotep III and Alexander the Great, (10) transverse hall, and (11) sanctuary of Amenhotep III. Source: N. Strudwick and H. Strudwick, Thebes in Egypt: A Guide to the Tombs and Temples of Ancient Luxor. London: British Museum Press, 1999, p. 68. Reprinted by permission of Nigel and Helen Strudwick

33 ITTC08 1/25/07 2:54 PM Page 239 The New Kingdom 239 Temple of Osiris and Peded ankh Bab el- Abd Temple of Montu Temple of Ma at Avenue of humanheaded sphinxes Temple of Harpre PRECINCT MONTU Temple of Thutmose I N Temple of Ptah Avenue of ram-headed sphinxes Bark shrine of Psammuthis and Hakoris Pylon II Pylon I Great Temple of Amon-Re Chapel of Osiris Heqadjet Hypostyle Standing hall obelisks Sanctuary Central court Pylon III Cachette Court Temple of Rameses III IV Pylon VII Pylon VIII V VI Scarab statue Sacred lake Temple of Amon-Re - Harakty Festival temple of Thutmose III To the temple of Amenhotep IV (Akhenaten) PRECINCT OF AMON-RE Temple of Opet Temple of Khons Pylon IX Pylon X Sed-festival temple of Amenhotep II Bab el- Amara Avenue of rams Bark station of Thutmose III and Hatshepsut Avenue of ram-headed sphinxes Sanctuary of Amun Kamutef Temple of Mut Temple of Khonspekhrod Temple of Nectanebo II Avenue of human-headed sphinxes Temple of Rameses III Lake PRECINCT OF MUT m to Luxor ft Figure 8.13 Plan of the Temple of Karnak. Source: R. H. Wilkinson: The Complete Temples of Ancient Egypt. New York: Thames and Hudson, 2000, p. 155

34 ITTC08 1/25/07 2:54 PM Page The New Kingdom Major construction in the later 18 th Dynasty occurred during the reigns of Amenhotep III and Horemheb. Demolishing a court of Thutmose II s, Amenhotep III erected the Third Pylon, and began the Tenth Pylon, to the south of which he created an avenue of ram-headed sphinxes. Blocks from Thutmose II s court and other re-erected buildings are now in an open-air museum at Karnak. After Akhenaten s reign, talatat blocks from his East Karnak shrines to Aten were reused when Horemheb built the Ninth and Tenth Pylons to the south, and the Second Pylon on the west. To the east of this series of courts and pylons was the Sacred Lake (ca. 120 m 77 m), which supplied water for temple rites. This was where priests bathed before their morning rituals. As the sun rose at dawn over the Sacred Lake, which symbolized the primeval waters, the act of creation was repeated each day. During the 19 th Dynasty, the great Hypostyle Hall was built between the Second and Third Pylons by Sety I and Rameses II (see Plate 8.8). A total of 134 columns are in this hall, with capitals carved as open or closed papyrus plants. Flanking the center aisle are 12 taller columns (21 m), with clerestory windows on top of a lower row of columns. Exterior walls of the hall are covered with reliefs, including scenes of Sety s battles in Syria, and Rameses s Battle of Qadesh. Later New Kingdom construction at Karnak included a triple bark shrine of Sety II s to the west of the Second Pylon, the entrance to the temple then. To the south of the entrance Rameses III built a small temple really a very large bark stand, oriented north south. For much of the 20 th century excavations, restoration, and architectural studies at the Temple of Karnak have been conducted by the Centre Franco-Égyptien, and the Epigraphic Survey of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago has recorded temple inscriptions and reliefs. 8.8 Ramessid Mortuary Temples As in the 18 th Dynasty, several kings of the Ramessid Period (19 th 20 th Dynasties) built mortuary temples in western Thebes which were connected by ritual to the temples of Luxor and Karnak (see Figure 8.14). The first of these was built by Sety I (and finished by Rameses II) in the north at Qurna. The plan of this temple, which has been excavated by the German Archaeological Institute, Cairo, would continue to be used in more elaborated form into the 20 th Dynasty. Two courts were entered through pylons (mostly built of mud-brick), leading to a portico and a columned hall, to the west of which were bark shrines for the Theban triad (Amen, Mut, and Khonsu) and the innermost sanctuary. Flanking the hypostyle hall to the south was a chapel for Sety s father Rameses I, who only ruled for two years and thus did not build his own mortuary temple, and to the north a long chapel for the sun cult. To the south of the first court was a small palace, probably for ritual use only, first seen at Thebes in the mortuary temple that was begun by Ay and usurped by Horemheb (at the end of the 18 th Dynasty). In Sety s temple there were also long narrow storerooms to the north, between the outer walls of the temple proper and the enclosure walls of the temple precinct.

35 ITTC08 1/25/07 2:54 PM Page 241 The New Kingdom 241 Temple of Amen Thutmose III Hatshepsut DEIR EL-BAHRI Nebhepetre Mentuhotep I Sankhkare Mentuhotep DEIR EL-MEDINA Amenhotep I Hathor Amen NAG KOM LOLAH Merenptah North Temple Amenhotep, son of Hapu Ay and Horemheb Rameses III MEDINET HABU MALQATA Chapel of the White Queen Wadjmose Hathor chapel Rameses IV Thutmose II South Temple Ramessid temple GURNA Thutmose III Siptah Amenhotep III Colonnaded temple Rameses IV Amenhotep II Rameses II (Ramasseum) Thutmose IV Siptah and Tawosret 0 1 km 0 1 mile DRA ABU EL-NAGA Nebwenenef Thutmose I and Ahmose Nefertari Sety I N Figure 8.14 Map/location of the (royal) mortuary temples of western Thebes: Source: J. Baines and J. Malek, Cultural Atlas of Ancient Egypt. Oxford: Andromeda, 2000, p. 91 At Sheikh Abd el-qurna, almost 2 kilometers to the southwest of Sety s mortuary temple, is that of his son Rameses II, now called the Ramesseum. Enclosing an area of 210 meters 178 meters, Rameses s mortuary temple was much more grandiose than that of his father. For the first time there are two pylons made of stone, both of which had reliefs with scenes of the Battle of Qadesh. In the first court was the gigantic granite statue of the seated king, now toppled, but originally ca. 20 meters high and probably weighing over 1,000 tons (see Figure 8.15). Quarried in Aswan, it is one of the largest monolithic sculptures ever erected. The main temple was actually a long parallelogram in plan, with a number of columned halls, the largest of which (hypostyle) had 48 papyriform columns. Three small columned halls led to the innermost part of the temple, now badly destroyed. A small contiguous temple on the northern side of the main temple was dedicated to Rameses s mother Tuya and his chief wife Nefertari. Although much of the Ramesseum s stonework was dismantled for reuse in later times, much of the vast network of mud-brick storerooms is still standing around three sides of the temple, some even with sections of vaulted roofs. The storerooms were probably used as granaries, although other uses would have been possible. Barry Kemp has estimated that if all of the Ramesseum storerooms were filled to capacity (an unlikely event) they could feed 17,000 20,000 people for a year. In the New Kingdom, large temples such as the Ramesseum were an important part of the economic infrastructure of the state, acting as centers of tax collection and redistribution. The best preserved (and partially restored) Ramessid mortuary temple was built by Rameses III at Medinet Habu (see Figure 8.16). First investigated in 1859 by Auguste Mariette, the temple was systematically excavated by the Oriental Institute, University

36 ITTC08 1/25/07 2:54 PM Page The New Kingdom Figure 8.15 The Ramesseum with fallen colossus of Rameses II of Chicago, under the direction of Uvo Hölscher, beginning in the 1920s. Study and recording of the temple s reliefs and inscriptions was conducted by the Oriental Institute s Epigraphic Survey. Two mud-brick walls surrounded the Medinet Habu precinct, with the northern wall abutting Horemheb s mortuary temple. Originally canals connected Rameses III s temple to the river, and a quay was built near the eastern entrance. The temple precinct was entered through the fortress-like High Gate; an earlier, 18 th -Dynasty temple (the Small Temple ) to the north has a slightly different axis. There was also an elaborate western gate to the temple precinct, but this may have been only for temple personnel. Constructed of stone, the eastern High Gate was decorated with reliefs, including scenes of the king symbolically trampling on Egypt s many enemies, and in upper rooms there are harem scenes. During the 20 th Dynasty the temple was the administrative center of western Thebes, and mud-brick administrative buildings were located around the main temple structure. The many storerooms/granaries to the north and west of the main temple are also evidence of its redistributive function. The main temple is fronted by an enormous pylon carved with scenes of the king smiting his enemies with a mace. On the temple s north wall are reliefs and inscriptions of Rameses s battles with the Libyans (regnal years 5 and 11) and with the Sea Peoples (year 8). To the south of the first court was a symbolic palace with a Window of Appearances opening from the audience hall. The palace also contained private apartments, one of which had a small throne room, bedroom, and bathroom. Similar in plan to the Ramesseum, the main temple was entered through two porticoed courts. To the west of the second court were two hypostyle halls, one with

37 ITTC08 1/25/07 2:54 PM Page 243 The New Kingdom 243 N Western Gate Gate of Rameses III Outer wall Brick wall m 150 ft Hypostyle hall Main temple Palace Second court First court Chapels of the Divine Adoratrices Amenerdis I Small temple Sacred lake High Gate Landing quay Figure 8.16 Plan of the temple complex at Medinet Habu. Source: R. H. Wilkinson, The Complete Temples of Ancient Egypt. New York: Thames and Hudson, 2000, p. 193

38 ITTC08 1/25/07 2:54 PM Page The New Kingdom 24 columns and the second with eight. At the rear of the temple was a bark shrine for Amen, behind which was a room that Hölscher called the Holy of Holies, with a large false door. This part of the temple is not well preserved, but reliefs in chambers to the north and south of the innermost sanctuary identify chapels to various deities. With unsettled conditions at the end of the New Kingdom, Medinet Habu became a fortified settlement, and tomb workers from Deir el-medina were relocated there. Gradually much of the temple was taken over with settlement, and in the 1 st millennium bc only the Small Temple was used for ritual of the Amen cult. Royal and Elite Tombs 8.9 Royal Tombs in the Valley of the Kings and Valley of the Queens For security reasons the royal tombs of the New Kingdom were in hidden locations to the west of the royal mortuary temples. The kings were actually buried in two valleys, most in the East Valley (KV) and a few in the West Valley (WV), together known as the Valley of the Kings. While most earlier work in the Valley of the Kings involved tomb clearance, since the 1970s The Theban Mapping Project of the American University in Cairo, under the direction of Kent Weeks, has been systematically mapping tombs there, in addition to undertaking stratigraphic excavations and tomb conservation (see Figure 8.17). With the exception of Tutankhamen s mummy, mummies of the New Kingdom kings had been robbed of their valuable jewelry and placed in two caches. One cache of royal mummies was found in side chambers in the tomb of Amenhotep II, whose stripped down mummy was in a reused coffin (not his own) in his sarcophagus. From the end of the 20 th Dynasty onward the royal burials were systematically robbed, probably by the Theban rulers to provide state funds. The mummies were later rewrapped and re-labeled (sometimes with other relevant information about when and where this was done), and then reburied minus their valuable jewelry in the two caches. The other cache of royal mummies was found at Deir el-bahri in the family tomb of Panedjem II, the High Priest of Amen-Ra, dating to the late 20 th /early 21 st Dynasties. In the 1870s this tomb was being looted by a local family, with artifacts sporadically going to antiquities dealers in Cairo. When this activity was revealed to the Egyptian authorities, the robbers were caught and the royal mummies (and remaining tomb goods) were shipped downriver to Cairo, where they can now be seen in the royal mummy collection of the Egyptian Museum. The 40 mummies in the Deir el-bahri cache included kings of the 18 th, 19 th, and 20 th Dynasties, but also royal women, and even an 18 th -Dynasty royal nurse named Rai. The mummy of the 17 th -Dynasty Theban king Taa shows evidence of a violent death, probably from battle with the Hyksos (see 7.13). The first king with a known tomb (KV 20) in the Valley of the Kings was Thutmose I. His sarcophagus was found in another, much smaller tomb (KV 38), which was

39 ITTC08 1/25/07 2:54 PM Page 245 The New Kingdom 245 probably made for him by his grandson Thutmose III, following the demise of Hatshepsut, who probably made a second, larger burial chamber in KV 20 to include her own sarcophagus with that of her father. Ca. 200 meters long, this tomb was entered via a long and sinuous descending passageway and series of stairs excavated in the bedrock. Hatshepsut s original tomb, before she became king, was carved into the face of a sheer cliff about 1.5 kilometers to the northwest of the Valley of the Queens. To enter this tomb, which was being robbed, Howard Carter had himself lowered by rope 42 meters down the cliff face in Thutmose III s tomb (KV 34) was a larger version of that of his grandfather. At the end of a series of corridors and stairs was a ritual shaft, to the north of which was a vestibule. More stairs led to the pillared burial chamber, which contained a red quartzite sarcophagus. Mortuary compositions painted on the walls of the early 18 th -Dynasty royal tombs describe the voyage of Ra through the 12 hours of the night, and his rebirth at its end. Beginning with Thutmose III s tomb, scenes of the king with different deities were painted on the pillars. In the later tombs of Thutmose IV and Amenhotep III, the plan is more formal, with a long straight corridor which makes a 90 turn at a pillared hall. Another long corridor leads to an antechamber, and turning 90 again, the pillared burial chamber is entered, off of which are rectangular subsidiary rooms. Following the Amarna Period (see 8.5), the Theban tomb of King Horemheb (KV 57) consists of a series of corridors and stairs, aligned linearly, leading to a vestibule and a six-pillared hall, with the burial chamber at a lower level. For the first time, mortuary texts and scenes are carved in relief, much of which was left unfinished. The mortuary composition known as the Book of Gates (the gates of the hours of the night through which the deceased traveled) appears for the first time in Horemheb s burial chamber. Probably the most impressive royal tomb of the 19 th Dynasty is that of Sety I (KV 17), discovered by Giovanni Belzoni in Belzoni recorded the colored reliefs and paintings of the fully decorated tomb in watercolors, and in 1821 an exhibit of the tomb opened in London to great acclaim. The Litany of Ra, a set of invocations to the sun god, appears in this tomb, and astronomical scenes were found on the vaulted ceiling of the burial chamber. Sety s sarcophagus, which was covered with texts of the Book of Gates, was also brought to London, where it is displayed in the Sir John Soame Museum. Unfortunately since its discovery, Sety s tomb has suffered much damage, especially from flooding, which had damaged much of the tomb of Sety s son Rameses II (KV 7). Excavated into higher bedrock, the tomb of Rameses s successor (and 13 th son), Merenptah (KV 8), was better preserved. It contained a series of four nested sarcophagi, three of granite and the innermost one of travertine, as reconstructed by Egyptologist Edwin Brock. Tomb KV 5, which has been investigated since 1987 by Kent Weeks, was an enormous tomb for a number of Rameses II s many sons (although two of Rameses s sons were buried in known tombs in northern Egypt). With well over 100 chambers and corridors and possibly many more yet to be found it is the largest known rockcut tomb in Egypt. In the 20 th Dynasty Rameses III took over the tomb of his father, Sethnakht, who only ruled for two years. The tomb (KV 11) was greatly expanded and has a new

40 ITTC08 1/25/07 2:54 PM Page The New Kingdom Figure 8.17 Theban Mapping Project plans of tombs in Valley of the Kings: Thutmose III (KV 34, including KV 33), Sety I (KV 17), Sons of Rameses II (KV 5), Rameses V and Rameses VI (KV 9). thebannmappingproject.com/sites/browse_tomp_89.html

41 ITTC08 1/25/07 2:55 PM Page 247 The New Kingdom 247 Figure 8.17 (Continued)

42 ITTC08 1/25/07 2:55 PM Page The New Kingdom Figure 8.17 (Continued)

43 ITTC08 1/25/07 2:55 PM Page 249 The New Kingdom 249 Figure 8.17 (Continued)

44 ITTC08 1/25/07 2:55 PM Page The New Kingdom mortuary composition, the Book of the Earth, in the burial chamber. Rameses V and Rameses VI were buried in the same tomb (KV 9), which is covered with well preserved mortuary texts and scenes. The tomb of the last king of this dynasty, Rameses XI (KV 4), was unfinished, and mostly undecorated. This tomb did not contain a sarcophagus, and it is unlikely that the king was buried there. The tomb was cleared by an expedition of The Brooklyn Museum in 1979 and identifiable remains of burials of previous kings suggest that their mummies were taken there to be stripped of their valuables. The Valley of the Queens ( Wadi el-malikat in Arabic), also in the Theban hills, was used for burials of principal queens and a number of princes and princesses in the 19 th and 20 th Dynasties, with two main groups of tombs dating to the reigns of Rameses II (on the northern slope) and Rameses III (on the southern slope). The Ramessid tombs were constructed and decorated by workmen from Deir el-medina. There is also evidence of some 18 th -Dynasty tombs in the valley, but they were undecorated and of nonroyal persons. In the Third Intermediate Period and Late Periods robbed tombs in the Valley of the Queens were reused for family burials of local temple personnel. In Roman times the tombs were reused for burials of human and animal mummies and piles of over 100 human mummies have been found in several tombs. The Valley of the Queens was first systematically excavated in by an Italian expedition from the Egyptian Museum, Turin, under the direction of Ernesto Schiaparelli and Francesco Ballerini. Since 1984 investigations have been conducted there by the Egyptian Center of Documentation and the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS). Rameses II s mother Queen Tuya (QV 80) and several of his daughters were buried in the Valley of the Queens, but probably the best known tomb is that of his chief wife Nefertari (QV 66) (see Plate 8.9). Because of damage from underground water, the tomb remained closed for the late 20 th century, but its beautifully painted scenes, cut in relief on the plastered walls, were restored by a joint project of the Getty Conservation Institute and the Egyptian Antiquities Organization, and it is now open. Nefertari s tomb is decorated with scenes of the queen before different deities relevant to her journey in the afterlife, and texts from the Book of Gates and the Book of the Dead (see Box 8-D), which are very rare in kings tombs. In the early 20 th Dynasty five sons and two wives of Rameses III were buried in the Valley of the Queens, with vivid painted scenes and texts found in several of these tombs, especially that of his son Amenherkhopshef (QV 55) Elite Tombs at Thebes and Saqqara In the New Kingdom, the highest officials of the kingdom were buried either in Saqqara near the seat of government (beginning with the reign of Thutmose III), or in Thebes, the most important cult center. In the west Theban hills at Sheikh Abd el-qurna, southeast of Hatshepsut s Deir el-bahri temple, are the rock-cut tombs of a number of officials of the earlier part of the 18 th Dynasty. Later 18 th -Dynasty private tombs are located to the east of the earlier ones, while a number of Ramessid tombs are between el-khokha and Dra Abu el-naga. Although raised relief would have been the most desirable tomb decoration, this depended on the owner s means and the quality of rock in his tomb.

45 ITTC08 1/25/07 2:55 PM Page 251 The New Kingdom 251 Box 8-C Mummification and the study of human remains There is evidence of efforts to preserve the body before the beginning of Dynastic times, and the techniques of mummification evolved over many centuries. By New Kingdom times the mummification process achieved a high degree of preservation and some procedures became standardized for those who could afford it. The greatest attention was given to the royal mummies, as evidenced in the two caches from Thebes of kings mummies, although these were all stripped of the valuables originally placed within their linen wrappings. According to most accounts, the techniques of mummification reached a high point during the 21 st Dynasty. Written accounts of mummification are known from later in the 1 st millennium bc (Herodotus and Diodorus Siculus), but mummies themselves provide evidence of the variations practiced. The first part of the mummification procedure was done on an embalming table in the Per-nefer the House of Mummification. After breaking the ethnoid bone between the eye sockets, the brain was removed by a long hook. Internal organs were then removed, from the liver to the lower intestines, through an incision in the left abdomen. The lungs were also removed, but the heart (believed to be the seat of intelligence and emotions) was left in the thorax. What remained internally was then cleansed and packed with materials to preserve the form, and the entire body was covered with dry natron (sodium carbonate and sodium bicarbonate), which desiccated the remaining tissue. The lungs, liver, stomach, and intestines were embalmed and wrapped separately and then placed in four canopic containers, each guarded by one of the four sons of Horus, whose heads were represented on the jar lids. After about 40 days the body was taken to the Wabet (House of Purification) for the final procedures, which included washing it with water and filling the cavities in the brain and torso with materials soaked in resin. The abdominal incision was sewn up, the nasal cavity was filled, and sometimes pads were included under the eyelids. Treatment of the body surface included rubbing with a mixture of cedar oil and preservatives, and a final coating with hot resin. The last step in the process was wrapping the mummy in many layers of linen strips, between which protective amulets were placed. The entire process took about 70 days. Most of what was left after mummification was muscle tissue and bones, and many infectious diseases which may have been the cause of death cannot be diagnosed from these remains. But a number of mummies have been studied with X-ray images, and tissue can be rehydrated, revealing evidence of disease such as smallpox, schistosomiasis, and intestinal parasites. In the 1970s James Harris, an orthodontist at the University of Michigan, X-rayed the royal mummies in the Cairo Museum, finding evidence of trauma (both ante- and postmortem), arthritis (rheumatoid and degenerative), poliomyelitis, dental abscesses, and other defects and diseases. X-rays have also revealed arteriosclerosis in the mummies of four Ramessid kings. The mummy of a priestess Makara was thought to have been buried with her child, but when X-rayed the small bundle turned out to be a baboon! Fortuitously, age/sex information of mummies can be obtained through radiography without unwrapping them and performing autopsies, as can the placement of amulets within the linen bandages. Mummies can also been studied with CTs (Computed Axial Tomography) and MRIs (Magnetic Resonance Imaging). DNA studies of gene sequencing using mummified tissue is also being done, but with some difficulty.

46 ITTC08 1/25/07 2:55 PM Page The New Kingdom Box 8-D The Book of the Dead Collections of mortuary texts known as the Book of the Dead bore the ancient title of Book of Going Forth by Day for the deceased s going forth in the world of the dead. Individual examples consist of a series of spells inscribed on papyri, which were often placed in or on the coffin of the deceased. The earliest known mortuary texts, the Pyramid Texts, which were inscribed in the late Old Kingdom, were carved on the inner walls of pyramids and had a royal context (see 6.10). In the Middle Kingdom transformed and expanded versions of these mortuary texts are found painted on coffins of private individuals (the Coffin Texts; see 7.1), but some examples of these texts have also been found on papyri. In the New Kingdom and later, mortuary texts for private individuals were written on papyri (and other media). The goal of the spells in the Book of the Dead was to help the deceased to overcome successfully various foes and dangers in the afterlife, and the judgment before Osiris in which the deceased s heart was weighed against the feather symbolizing ma at (truth). An ideal result was an eternal existence in the Field of Reeds (Elysian Fields). There are hymns to Ra and Osiris. One set of spells is known as the negative confession, in which the deceased swears to a court of 42 gods that he/she has not committed a great number of sins. The Book of the Dead was usually illustrated with a number of painted vignettes, as can be seen in the well known New Kingdom papyrus of the scribe Any in the British Museum (see Plate 8.10). Especially appealing to the modern eye are a number of painted Theban tombs belonging to officials of the 18 th Dynasty. Although the upper part of the tomb of Sennefer (TT96), who was mayor of Thebes during the reign of Amenhotep II, is inaccessible, a steep rock-cut stairway leads to two well-preserved subterranean rooms (see Plate 8.11). The tomb s colorfully painted ceiling includes representations of a grape arbor. In the antechamber are scenes of processions of priests and servants carrying offerings and tomb equipment. Paintings completely cover the walls of the burial chamber, including scenes of Sennefer s funeral and mortuary rites, offerings to Osiris, the (post-mortem) pilgrimage to Abydos by boat and return to Thebes, and the worship of Osiris and Anubis with texts from Chapter 15 of the Book of the Dead. On the chamber s four pillars are scenes of Sennefer being given offerings by a woman named Merit, possibly his wife, and rituals performed by mortuary priests. The tomb of Rekhmira (TT100) is of unusually large size, with a transverse hall opening off of an exterior courtyard, and a long high chapel ending in a false door, above which is a carved niche. But there is no burial chamber or shaft leading to one (or perhaps it has not been found). Rekhmira was Thutmose III s vizier and governor of Thebes. Scenes of religious rites pertaining to the transition to the afterlife are found in the tomb, but there are also animated scenes of craftsmen, such as sculptors, goldsmiths, carpenters, and stone masons, working for the Temple of Amen. Temple workers are shown making mud-bricks and rope, carving stone vessels, and casting bronze artifacts. In the transverse hall are the well-known scenes of foreign tribute brought to Egypt, including tribute bearers from the Aegean and Syria, the latter with gifts of horses (see Figure 8.18). There are also Nubians and other Africans bringing not only gold,

47 ITTC08 1/25/07 2:55 PM Page 253 The New Kingdom 253 Figure 8.18 Detail of a painting in the 18th-Dynasty Theban tomb of Rekhmira (TT100) at Sheikh Abd el-qurna showing Nubians bringing a giraffe and long-horned cattle as tribute. In the lower register Syrians bring horses, an elephant, and a panther. Werner Forman Archive ebony, incense, elephant ivory, and exotic hides, but also live wild animals. A giraffe is painted with a monkey climbing up its neck, and there are leopards, and baboons and some domesticated animals including dogs and long-horned cattle. Like other high officials, Rekhmira depicted his role in the government; but such scenes and their associated hieroglyphic texts also give insight into foreign relations and the international economy of this period when Egypt controlled vast territories abroad. Agricultural scenes, of plowing and hoeing, broadcast sowing, harvesting, threshing, and winnowing, are found in a number of 18th-Dynasty tombs, including those of Nakht (TT52) and Menna (TT69), who were both government scribes/officials. The unfinished tomb of Ramose (TT55), vizier and governor of Thebes during the reigns of Amenhotep III and Amenhotep IV, contains both reliefs and paintings. Demonstrating the high quality of elite art during this opulent period are the exquisite low

48 ITTC08 1/25/07 2:55 PM Page The New Kingdom Figure 8.19 Relief of a banquet scene from the 18 th -Dynasty tomb of Ramose (TT55) reliefs carved on the east wall in the tomb s large hypostyle hall (with 32 columns), including scenes of a funerary banquet (see Figure 8.19). There are also painted scenes of the funeral, and lines of tears run down the faces of female mourners. The decoration in this tomb changes from what might be called a classic high style of the mid- 18 th Dynasty to Akhenaten s Amarna style, showing the rapidity of this major cultural transition. Although most of the Theban private tombs were robbed in antiquity, a few survived with a number of grave goods intact, including many items of daily life furniture, jewelry, cosmetic artifacts, tools, and cloth and shawabti (servant figurines) to serve the deceased. The burial was in a coffin with the viscera preserved in containers placed in canopic chests. The remarkable preservation of artifacts in some tombs associated with Deir el-medina will be discussed below (8.11). Recent conservation efforts in tombs, such as Nigel Strudwick s work in the tomb of Senneferi (TT99), have also uncovered artifacts, often found in fragments. In Senneferi s subterranean tomb two ivory adzes used in the Opening of the Mouth ritual have been found along with fragments of a papyrus and a linen mummy shroud inscribed with texts from the Book of the Dead. This tomb was extensively reused in post-new Kingdom times (21 st through 26 th Dynasties), when six shafts were cut in the tomb chapel. Thousands of fragments of later burial equipment have also been recovered. At Saqqara high officials built a number of tombs dating to the 18 th and 19 th Dynasties (later ones are known from texts). Since 1976 French archaeologist Alain-Pierre Zivie has been excavating rock-cut tombs in cliffs along the eastern edge